ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise with its rapid spread and death rate globally. To curb its spread, certain restrictive measures were adopted by many African countries. The oil industry faces the problem of crude oil theft in commercial quantity exported to neighbouring countries. This has occasioned the loss of revenues and environmental pollution due to oil spillage caused by crude oil thieves. However, this has attracted global attention; thus, there is the need for more stringent laws to combat the menace caused by incessant crude oil thefts, pipelines vandalisation by oil thieves, low maintenance of the existing crude oil refineries, which has impeded the country’s economic growth and development. The study adopts a conceptual legal research method using current literature with the use of library-based doctrinal legal research techniques with primary and secondary sources of laws, case laws and the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. The provisions of the National Health Emergency Bill, 2022 (Public Health Emergency Bill, 2020) (SB. 413) (which repealed the provisions of the Quarantine Act, 2004 and the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). There is the absence of specific oil and gas laws criminalising crude oil theft. The study designs a hybrid model for the transformation of Nigeria’s crude oil refineries. It also advocates the need to redefine legal regimes on illegal oil refineries by inserting specifically illegal oil refineries in the Petroleum Industry Act to effectively criminalise crude oil theft and recommend remedial economic measures such as bailouts and tax reliefs for vulnerable oil firms.
